Monday, 6 July 2015

Swansea Continuing Top Transfer Dealings

Much has
been made of how successful Swansea where last season, but one aspect of that
success which seems to have been overlooked is their transfer dealings. Many
people expected Swansea to flounder once they sold Wilfried Bony to Manchester
City but they completed the rest of the season admirably and their forays into
the transfer market this summer look promising.

Given
that Swansea have such a strong style of play it is perhaps easier to identify,
or at least exclude certain transfer targets. The capture of Jack Cork in
Januray looks a great bit of business, Gylfi Sigurdsson showed what he can
achieve when deployed in his best position and Fabianski was also a top signing
last summer.

Another
of last summer’s recruits, Bafetimbi Gomis, was the most natural replacement
for Bony in the Swansea squad last January, from that point to the end of the
season he managed six of his seven league goals and five of those came in a
spell of five games towards the end of the campaign. It’s fair to say he didn’t
quite reach the same levels as Bony, but will be looking to continue in same
manner he ended last term.

Other
than Gomis and the on loan Nelson Oliveria, Swansea didn’t really have any
striking options so it’s understandable that that’s an area they’ve looked to
strengthen. They’ve brought in Eder from Braga for around £5m, the Portugal
international hit ten goals last season in his home country. At over 6ft Eder
will be seen as a similar type of player to both Bony and Gomis, giving Swansea
a focal point for their attacks.

In
addition to Eder, Swansea have also added the highly coveted Andre Ayew. Ayew
joined on a free transfer from Marseille and is predominantly a left sided
attacking midfielder. That said he also played centrally for Marseille and even
featured at left back once last season so is certainly very versatile. He too
managed ten goals last time out and also registered three assists. Ayew’s
signing will have been as something of a coup for a player who was linked with
Liverpool and other clubs this summer.

Whilst
it remains to be seen whether the new signings Garry Monk has made will have
the desired impact there’s certainly cause to be optimistic. One really
impressive part of the deal is the way Swansea managed to get them done early
and for minimal transfer fees, securing two experienced internationals for £5m
is a great bit of business in anyone’s book. Based on last seasons signings you
wouldn’t bet against them slotting right in.